Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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284. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applicants currently waiting for their application to be processed at each stage in the asylum process; the average duration which they have been waiting at each stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38560/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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There has been a significant increase in investment into the international protection system which, combined with digitisation and process reengineering, has facilitated a major increase in processing capacity.

In 2024 the International Protection Office (IPO) delivered over 14,000 first decisions compared to over 8,500 in 2023, while the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) closed around 3,100 appeals in 2024 compared to over 1,700 in 2023. Further growth in decisions will be delivered in 2025.

Accelerated processing was introduced in November 2022, and it now applies to those from designated safe countries of origin, applicants who have received protection elsewhere in Europe and those from a country with a particularly high number of applications. Since the introduction of accelerated processing, the number of applicants from these groups has dropped significantly.

The number of International Protection applications had been rising over the past number of years, reaching 18,500 in 2024. This year, we are beginning to see application numbers noticeably reduce. There have been 43% less applications in the first six months of 2025 compared to the first six months of 2024.

There are currently 33,822 pending International Protection applications at various points of the International Protection process. The table below details the number of pending cases at each stage of the process as of 7 July 2025.

**On average cases are processed within 2 days of receipt in MDU, however cases pending that require further clarity, such as confirmation of address can take longer to process.

It should be noted that the very small number of cases with unusually long processing times are typically attributable to circumstances outside of the control of the Department. The reasons for such extended delays in processing can include an applicant who may have an ongoing Judicial Review, certain applicants may be uncontactable or missing, or may be a child with a separate application where a parent has already received a decision but contact has not been maintained with the Department. In some cases, applicants may not be co-operating with the application process.

Arrangements have been put in place to appropriately resolve such cases without further delay wherever feasible.

I can assure the Deputy that I am fully committed to ensuring that Ireland’s International Protection system is robust, and rules based, and that our borders are protected.